Build a Ladder Ball Golf Game- Make the Bolas!

In the previous post we built the ladder portion of the game, now it is time to make the bolas. A bola consists of two golf balls, one on each end of a string. Hopefully justbuildstuff.com can provide some tricks to make construction easier.
Here are the supplies that you will need to make a set of three bolas.

• 18 Golf Balls (I used 3 different colors and 6 balls of each color)
• 25 feet of ¼” nylon rope

I also recommend having the following tools

• Drill Press
• ¼” Drill Bit
• 1” Spade Bit or Forstner Bit

Always remember to use care and precaution when working on any project. Always wear the appropriate personal protection equipment such as safety glasses and gloves. Never operate power tools or equipment you are not familiar with, always read owners manuals and don’t be afraid to sign up for some classes in you community that will teach you how to use power tools and equipment.

The trickiest part of this project is drilling a perfectly centered hole through the golf ball. The best way I have found to do this is by clamping a scrap piece of wood to the table of my drill press and drilling a 1 inch diameter hole in the board using either a 1 inch diameter spade or forstner bit (see photo below). We drill this hole because it is centered with the center of the drill bit.

Now without moving or adjusting the drill press table with the drilled board attached remove the 1 inch diameter drill bit and replace it with a ¼” diameter bit.

Now it’s time to drop the golf ball down into the hole we drilled, notice how it sits perfectly centered with the drill bit. Hold the golf ball with a vise, or channel locks to keep it from spinning. Slowly drill the hole all of the way through the golf ball (see photo). Repeat this with the rest of the golf balls.

The golf balls are drilled, now we thread the ¼” nylon rope through the holes. It helps to have a good clean end of the rope to make the golf balls slide on a little easier. I tied knots in each end of the rope so the outsides of the golf balls were approximately 20 inches apart. After tying the knots I melted the frayed edges of the rope to keep it from fraying further.

Now just repeat this for the other eight bolas and you ladder ball golf set will be complete!!

If you missed them you can check out

part 1 here or part 2 here

Build a Ladder Ball Golf Game- Build The Ladder!

Yesterday we introduced the ladder golf ball game and today we are going to go over how to build the ladder structure. The ladder structures are built out of 3/4″ PVC pipe (note that 3/4″ PVC pipe has a 3/4″ inside diameter and approximately a 1 inch outside diameter). To build Two of the ladder structures you need to buy the following items from you local home center.

• 5- 10 foot long sticks of 3/4″ PVC pipe
• 12- 3/4″ PVC “T” fittings
• 12- 3/4″ PVC 90 degree fittings

The next step is to cut the PVC pipe. For each ladder structure you will need the following.

• 9- 2 foot long pieces
• 6- 1 foot long pieces

To build one ladder assembly you should have everything in the photo below. Double the quantities to build two structures.

Now comes the fun part. Put the pipes together into the ladder assembly. You can use the photo below as a guide if you need to. I did not glue my structure together, because I would like to have the ability to disassemble it for storage and it seems more than strong enough without glued joints.

In the next posting we will drill some holes in golf balls and make the bolas to throw at the ladder.

If you are interested in other PVC projects check out our PVC Flagpole project.

Build a Ladder Ball Golf Game!

Here is another project for our series of how to build toys. This one is a game, one that has recently become popular under many names. I think the most commonly accepted name is ladder ball, but I have seen it referred to as Norwegian Golf, bolo ball, bola ball, hillbilly horseshoes and many others. The game consists of throwing bolas (golf balls on a rope) at a ladder structure; see the Wikipedia page for more information about ladder ball. This is another project that is built almost entirely from pvc pipe, which I find to be incredibly easy to work with and inexpensive to purchase. The project is split into two parts; in the first part, we will build the ladder structure and in the second part, we will make the balls, or bola that are thrown at the ladder structure.

How to build the ladder structure can be found here!

How to make the Bolas can be found here!

The PVC Flag Pole Project- Part Four Get the Flag On!

If you missed parts one, two or three of this www.justbuildstuff.com project make sure to check them out.

Now that the structure of the pole is together it is time to add the flag. There are many ways to attach the flag to the flag pole. I have seen metal clips, cable ties, key rings and shower curtain rings. The method that I used on this particular flag pole was shower curtain rings. I drilled holes through the pipe that supports the flag and inserted the shower curtain ring through it. I drilled one hole 1.5 inches from the tip of the pipe and the other thirty six inches further down from the first hole. If you use this method make sure that the eyelet holes on your flag line up with the holes you drill on the pipe.

Now it’s time to stand the flag up. I used a 2 foot long piece of concrete rebar from my local home center as a stake in the ground, as shown in the picture below. Any type of metal stake at least 1/2 inch in diameter and 2 foot long should also work as a stake for the flag pole. Now the easiest part is just dropping the flag pole over the top of the stake. and watch the flag blow in the wind while the pole spins. If you notice the pole starting to dig itself into the ground you can slide a large washer over the stake, this will give the pole something to sit on top of so it does not dig into the ground.

And the flag pole is finished. As promised I hope that you found it fun, simple and inexpensive. Thanks for coming to www.justbuildstuff.com.

The PVC Flag Pole Project- Part Three Putting it Together

If you missed part one or part two make sure you go back and look it over. It contains the information you will need to find materials and to cut the pvc pipe.

Now that the pvc pipe is cut, it is time to get the fittings shown in the picture below and assemble the pipes into a flag pole.

Take all of the fittings and pipe and assemble them in the orientation shown in the picture below.

In order to maximize the strength of the flag pole the two joints shown in the photo below should be glued with pvc cement. I did not glue any of the other joints because I wanted to be able to disassemble my flag pole for easier storage and transportation.

Tomorrow we will add the final installment to the project where we attach the flag and let the flag be displayed for all to see.

Click here to go to part four of the project. 

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